Flowers in February
by Lectori Salutem
Summary: Luffy spots something while fishing. Very light ZoLu.


"Zoro, look at that!" Luffy said. When the swordsman didn't respond, he kicked him lightly to wake him from his slumber.

"What?" Zoro grumbled as answer, opening one eye to glance at his captain.

"That's so cool!" Chopper squealed. The little reindeer's eyes were suddenly replaced with stars.

"Oh, that must be the reward for my grand victory over the-" Ussop looked up from his chemicals and started his story, only to be cut of by the newest addition to the crew.

"Yohohoho! It makes me want to sing a song." Brook said in his loud voice. This gained the attention of a certain chef.

"Oi, shitheads. You're making to much noise!" Sanji said. He was too late, though. The ladies he had desperately tried to keep in his kitchen were now leaving to see what had caught their captain's attention this time.

"How extraordinary." Being the observant woman she was, Robin immediately spotted the object of attraction. It took the ginger-haired navigator a little longer to follow the collected gazes of the crew.

"It's so pretty!" Nami exclaimed when her eyes finally arrived at their destination. By that time the shipwright had also made his way to the deck.

"I could put it in Channel Four of the Soldier Dock System, it's still empty anyway. That way we can look at it easier." Franky looked at his captain with a questioning look in his eyes while saying this.

"You can do that?!?" Luffy half asked, half exclaimed. His eyes were sparkling just as much as his doctor's by now.

"Sure." Franky shrugged.

"I'll help with the navigating." Nami offered. The two of them started working on that, with Chopper and Sanji helping. The captain focused his eyes on the object he had found floating in the ocean again.

"Ne, Zoro, don't you think it's REALLY cool?" Luffy asked the green-haired man. By now, that swordsman had woken up completely and stood next to his captain.

"Well, it's…" Zoro started, not knowing how to finish that sentence.

And when the whole crew finally managed to fit in Channel Four to take a look, he still didn't know what he thought about the thing floating before him.

It was a small boat, much like the one Luffy had used when leaving his hometown. That, at itself, wasn't that weird. The contents of the boat were what everyone was staring at. It wasn't a person. And even though Nami would have loved that, it wasn't a treasure either. In fact, Zoro was quite sure that they could not profit of this in any way. And even though the rest of the crew knew this too, they looked at the little boat like it was very valuable. Zoro had to admit, it was very pretty. He'd never say that out loud, though. After all, he had somewhat of an image to keep up.

His captain, however, did not bother with such problems. Luffy didn't seem to care if something was considered manly or not. If he liked it, then he liked it. And when Luffy liked things, he showed that he liked them. So Luffy was standing as close as possible, just to get a better look. Zoro quickly stood beside him, to make sure the hyperactive rubber boy wouldn't fall into the water. He wouldn't feel comfortable if he didn't make sure of that anyway.

So their catch of the day was a boat, that much was sure. The contents of the boat, as Robin had said before, were quite odd for a boat. The whole bottom was covered with soil. Or at least that was what they suspected. Otherwise, how could plants grow in it? The whole boat was filled with all different kinds of plants. Now that was an odd sight already, but it wasn't all. Most of the plants were blooming. Yellow, red, purple, white, pink, blue and more, all on a layer of green. A very rare sight in the middle of the ocean.

"This one is AWESOME!" Luffy exclaimed. Zoro looked to see which flower his captain was pointing at. It was, of course, the tallest flower that had sparked the boy's interest.

"That is a sunflower," Robin said with a gentle smile.

"I know!" Luffy said, as he nodded. He looked at his nakama. "Don't you think it's the coolest flower ever?"

"Personally, I really like this cornflower." Robin said with a thoughtful smile. "It's really simple, but it has such a beautiful colour."

"I love the little roses, but the lilies are beautiful as well." Nami said, clasping her hands together. "Actually all of them are really pretty!"

"Nami-Swan is the most beautiful flower of all!" The cook almost shouted.

"Like we would have expected the crap-cook to say something else…" Zoro muttered under his breath. Sanji, however, could pick up the insult easily.

"You wanna start something, Marimo?" The cook said. Lack of space prevented them from actually fighting, but they could still shout insults at each other.

Nami and Robin were continuing their conversation on which flower was the prettiest. Ussop had started another story, this time about how he had saved a town when he was six. As a reward the kept sending him magical flowers. Chopper was fascinated. Brook had really started singing, with Franky as his audience.

"Zoro?" Luffy said. Zoro looked at his captain, as did the rest of the crew. Usually Luffy wouldn't interrupt the swordsman and the cook when they were at it.

"Yeah?"

"Zoro, I really like that sunflower," at this point he initiated the puppy eyes, "could you get it for me?" As if the swordsman could resist that… And he knew he couldn't, so he didn't even try.

"Sure." Zoro said, as he unsheathed his katana.

"Swordsman-san, could you please wait a little with cutting that flower?" Robin suddenly interrupted. Zoro sheathed his katana again and looked at the historian, about to ask why. His captain, however, was faster.

"Eh? Why?" Luffy turned around so fast, that he almost slipped. He quickly regained his balance, but it still made Zoro's heart skip a beat.

"I believe I know what it is that we see before us." Robin said, starting her explanation. "I have read about a certain tradition on some islands. The islanders fill a little boat with their most fertile soil and plant all kinds of seeds and small plants in it. Then they let the boat float in the ocean. It is supposed to please the gods, as some sort of offering. The moment the boat is floating in the water, it belongs to the god it was meant for. As such, harming the flowers will result in receiving the anger of that god."

"So?" Zoro said, not caring about gods that didn't even exist. Nami wasn't so comfortable with the prospect of the anger of a god, and Ussop was downright scared.

"I would have to check my books to be sure, but looking at the colours and flowers used, I believe this was meant for the Goddess of Fortune. Fortune can be taken as luck," Robins eyes seemed to travel from Luffy to Nami, "but also as money…"

The money loving girl's eyes widened a bit when the historian said this. "No way! We are not angering a something that can make me lose my money!"

"But Nami, I really like that flower…" Luffy said, trying his puppy eyes on her too. It seemed the navigator was immune, though.

"When I say no, I mean NO!" Nami said. Luffy looked like he'd take the sunflower anyway, so Nami used the back-up plan. "If you touch any of those flowers, then you won't have dinner for three days!"

"That's not fair!" Luffy started to whine. "I REALLY want the sunflower!" The navigator wouldn't have any of it, though.

"I don't care. And now get back to the deck again. If you don't manage to catch some fish, there won't be enough to feed you anyway." She turned her gaze to Ussop and Chopper. "You two keep an eye on him! Franky, you can release this boat again, before this idiot tries something stupid." Nami was starting to sound pissed, so they just did what she said. To prevent anything worse from happening, so to say.

Sanji immediately followed his Nami-Swan. It didn't take long for Robin and Brook to take their leave as well. Only Zoro and Franky were left.

"Is there something you want with this, or can I let it out?" Franky spoke. Zoro was about to say he didn't need it, when he spotted something.

"Robin only said not to harm the flowers, didn't she?" Zoro spoke, more to himself than to Franky. He bent over the little boat and it didn't take the shipwright long to figure out what he was doing.

"You are such a good guy…" Franky said, sniffling. "It makes me want to sing a song!"

"Do that, and you will experience first hand that I know how to cut steel." Zoro said flatly. The cyborg quickly hid his guitar. "I'm done with it."

And with that, Zoro left as well, leaving Franky to release the floating flower garden. The swordsman tried to get to the deck, but somehow he managed to get lost on the way. By the time he found his way to the deck, Luffy had already ditched fishing and he was now watching the flower boat disappear.

"You're not sulking about that flower, are you?" Zoro asked his captain. When he got no response, he tried a different approach. "Hey Luffy, do you know what these are?"

Luffy turned around and Zoro opened his hand to show what he held inside it. He was holding some seeds. Luffy tilted his head and looked up at Zoro. "These are seeds. Sunflower seeds to be exact. We can plant them…" It took Luffy a little while to get what Zoro meant.

"So we can have our own sunflowers?!?" Luffy half-shouted. His swordsman nodded.

"You wanna go find a nice spot for them?"

Luffy dragged Zoro from one place to another, unable to decide where to plant his sunflower seeds. Finally, the captain decided that in front of Nami's tangerine trees was a nice spot. Zoro planted the seeds, careful not to put them too deep.

"Thank you, Zoro!" Luffy said when Zoro was ready. He gave his swordsman a big hug. Zoro felt a small blush coming up when Luffy didn't let go after a few seconds, like he usually did. They stood there like that for a few minutes, until Luffy broke the silence.

"So, when is something gonna happen?"

"Idiot. It takes a lot of time to go from a seed to a flower."

"Oh. Then what are we waiting for?"

"I'm kinda waiting for you to let me go."

"Eh? I don't wanna let Zoro go!" Luffy almost whined. Zoro felt his face become a little hotter, but his captain didn't seem to notice the effect his words had. He looked at the monkey clinging to him and sighed.

"Do whatever you want, but I'm gonna take a nap."

"Then I'll go take a nap with Zoro!" The rubber boy decided. It surprised Zoro.

"Fine." And with that, Zoro sat down against one of the trees. Luffy hopped in his lap and took Zoro's arm, hugging it to his chest. The other arm found its way there as well, and now Zoro was the one hugging Luffy and not letting go. It didn't take long for the swordsman to fall asleep. Luffy looked at him for a while.

"Really thanks a lot, Zoro!" The rubber boy whispered, before he gave Zoro a quick kiss on the cheek. Even though Zoro couldn't have possible noticed that, him being the deep sleeper he is, his embrace became just a little bit tighter. Luffy giggled at this, before making himself comfortable. And it didn't take long before the younger boy was sleeping soundly in his swordsman's arms. Both of them were quite content with this day…


End file.
